By John Ferrannini 

The L-Taraval Improvement Project is expected to be finished this fall with the return of rail service and a celebration, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) spokesperson Michael Roccaforte said.

The L-Taraval streetcar has been on hold since 2019. The entire street had to be dug up piece by piece. Bus service replaced the streetcars.

Roccaforte said the exact dates of the return of service and the celebration have not been released yet.

“Our crews are making excellent progress on the final phase of the L-Taraval Improvement Project and have completed the special trackwork near 46th Avenue that was approved under the recent contract modification, and we’ve also completed repaving the street,” he said. “This means all the most disruptive elements of this project and its construction are behind us. All the utility work to replace water and sewer lines is complete.”

Roccaforte said all track work is now complete (he said special trackwork at Taraval and 46th Avenue was completed June 4, “ahead of schedule”) and the focus now is “installing new traffic signals and adding safety rails and beautiful ceramic mosaics to boarding islands.”

“Soon we’ll move on to the finishing touches: landscaping elements to further beautify Taraval Street and some final safety features before beginning train testing,” he said. “The L-Taraval project remains on schedule to be completed this fall and deliver a safer and more beautiful Taraval for all, with faster Muni, and reliable water and sewer service for decades to come. Construction is always disruptive, especially when utility work is involved, so we want to share the good news: the worst of it is behind us, and the best is still to come.”

On Aug. 27, Roccaforte said the traffic signals were now complete at Taraval and 17th, 18th and 22nd avenues. 

“The landscaping is the last thing to be finished up and is in progress,” he said.

A passenger island was built at Taraval and 28th, even though that stop was previously discontinued. 

“The boarding island at Taraval and 28th was built at that location to stop in front of the post office,” Roccaforte said. “The location is on a hill, so placing the boarding island there will make it easier for seniors and people with disabilities to access the post office. Passengers of all abilities will be able to access the boarding island as a stop.”

Asked why there’s only a ramp in the outbound direction, Roccaforte said there is another island in the inbound direction at 30th and Taraval.

“The boarding islands are at different locations on the street because of limited width available and the need to accommodate emergency vehicles and private vehicles that need space to turn onto Taraval or access businesses or driveways,” he said.

The project was broken into two phases. The first section, from near the San Francisco Zoo to Sunset Boulevard, began in September 2019 and was completed in July 2021 on schedule and within budget, according to the project’s website. The second phase of the project replaced tracks and infrastructure between Sunset Boulevard and West Portal. The total cost of the project is $90 million, according to SFMTA.

According to Roccaforte, the project – between Sunset Boulevard and West Portal – cost $57 million in total. Of that, $4.7 million was budgeted for the track replacement at the 46th Avenue and Taraval curve, which he stated “would have needed to be replaced eventually so we are taking proactive measures to replace them while rail service is still shut down on the L.”

The track from there to the San Francisco Zoo was not replaced as the “planning phase found the tracks to be in good condition,” he said.

Many merchants in the Taraval corridor wish it had not taken so long but are happy the project is nearing an end.

Eduardo Capili of Taraval Tailors said “everybody got tired” of the work.

“Most people lost some business – no parking – so people would go somewhere else, even myself,” Capili said. “When my customers were on the way, they’d go somewhere else because they couldn’t find parking.”

Nonetheless, Capili conceded that the situation improved because the City gave relief funds to businesses, including his own.

Unspent funds totaling $1 million from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in San Francisco last year were used to reimburse Taraval businesses for lost profits. 

“Ripping up the street has been a major disruption and a business killer,” said District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio in a news release. “Many merchants have reported huge losses in sales. What’s the point of brand-new train tracks and boarding islands serving a corridor without any businesses?” 

“When the construction is complete, it will benefit Taraval and its small businesses for the next 100 years. But we can’t give up on today’s merchants. We need them to be around when the train comes back. That’s why these relief funds are so important.”